Monday, December 17, 2012

When I was asked to take part in a special holiday YouTube
playlist called, “Christmas Morning Breakfast,” I started thinking about
seasonal variation on things like eggs benedict, quiche, and French toast. But
then I realized…you can’t wrap those things up and give them as an edible gift,
so I decided to do this granola instead.

We’ve covered the edible gift topic before, and discussed
the fine line between, “Wow, what a creative and thoughtful gift!” and “Wow,
what a cheapskate!” Happily, when it comes to this delicious, crunchy treat,
one taste and the lucky recipient will forget about any ulterior economic
motivations.

Since this was a Christmas-themed recipe, I went with lots
of festively colored dried fruit, but the beauty of the granola technique is
that it pretty much works with anything. I love the looks of the green pumpkin
seeds, but things like hazelnuts and pecans would also work wonderfully.

As I mentioned in the video, it’s really up to you to
determine the cooking time. I tend to like mine just golden-brown, but many
enjoy the deeper, nuttier flavor of a longer roasting. Since you are pulling
and tossing every 10 minutes, this is pretty easy to monitor, but just be
careful towards the end, as it can get bitter if you go too far.

Anyway, whether this is for a quick and easy holiday
breakfast, with milk or over Greek yogurt; or you are going to package some up
as a stocking stuffer for the foodies in your life, I hope you give this a try
soon. Enjoy!

19 comments:

Hi Chef John! If you can't answer this question, I'm hoping someone reading your blog can...I want to make this as a gift for someone who has a severe gluten allergy.

I know oats (and the other ingredients...I think) on this list don't contain gluten specifically, but I've read a lot of articles online about cross-contamination and I'm wondering how much of the hype I should (need to) believe. Should I go out and buy expensive oats that say on the label 'gluten-free', or am I getting worried over nothing?

You must ask the companies that have manufactured the ingredients if their products suffer from gluten cross-contamination. All the well know ones have some sort of customer service. you can find that on the product's packaging. You can also read there if the food has some traces of gluten.. Which is easier if you ask me.

I love this recipe, I make granola all of the time. I'd never leave comments to try to correct a recipe or question it, but I guess this is just a tip!

I use old fashioned oats, they're thicker and worked a bit better than the quick cooking oats-but it totally could have been a brand thing. Somehow, I never thought to put chopped chocolate candy in the mix, cant wait to try it though. Thanks for the video!

I love this recipe, I make granola all of the time. I'd never leave comments to try to correct a recipe or question it, but I guess this is just a tip!

I use old fashioned oats, they're thicker and worked a bit better than the quick cooking oats-but it totally could have been a brand thing. Somehow, I never thought to put chopped chocolate candy in the mix, cant wait to try it though. Thanks for the video!

I love this recipe, I make granola all of the time. I'd never leave comments to try to correct a recipe or question it, but I guess this is just a tip!

I use old fashioned oats, they're thicker and worked a bit better than the quick cooking oats-but it totally could have been a brand thing. Somehow, I never thought to put chopped chocolate candy in the mix, cant wait to try it though. Thanks for the video!

Chef John, I really enjoy your videos...regarding the coconut...my local megamarts have shredded coconut "sweetened". Is sweetened the same as candied? I can find shredded coconut "unsweetened" on the net, but can I just use the sweetened variety?I'm not sure what you mean by "candied".

This recipe is awesome! I don't like it too sweet so I halved the sugar and syrup. And I added dates instead of berries. Moreover, a little bit of cinnamon really intensifies the flavor! It's even better. You should try!

Ho my goodness!! This granola is amazing, mine just came out of the oven 30 minutes ago, it is sheer beauty. I'm from Europe, and while mapple syrup is available in some stores, I couldn't find it this time, so I replaced it with honey, and it worked perectly, the syrup wasn't as runny as it seems to be with mapple syrup and it didn't bubbled when I heated it, but it came out as liquid as needed to coat the cereals, so it was perfect, and the taste of that honey is marvelous, so it worked great if you ask me! Thank you very much for sharing your recipe chef John, take care!!